Shenzhen, China, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- On April 15, 2019, Strategy Analytics unveiled the comparison results between leading global 5G RAN suppliers and the 2023 5G global market forecast report. The consulting firm compared Huawei, Ericsson, and Nokia in terms of their 5G network performance, product portfolios, contributions to standardization, R&D investment, product delivery, etc. The results showed that Huawei's 5G competitiveness is far ahead of other vendors.
The IMT-2020 Promotion Group announced the 5G non-standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA) testing results in September 2018 and January 2019, respectively. The results showed that in NSA scenarios, Huawei's 5G network could provide up to 1.86 Gbps downlink rate per user, while Ericsson and Nokia could provide only 1.38 Gbps and 1.15 Gbps respectively. On the user plane, Ericsson and Nokia had latencies of 3.5 milliseconds and 3.8 milliseconds respectively, while Huawei’s latency was just 2 milliseconds. In SA scenarios, Huawei could offer up to 14.58 Gbps downlink rate per cell, whereas Nokia has not yet finished the test.
In terms of product portfolios, Huawei's "Dual 200" C-band Massive MIMO AAU and Tiangang 5G base station core chipset can support 200W transmit power and 200 MHz bandwidth. These products can meet all the needs of large telecom operators. However, Ericsson and Nokia focus on supporting the development of millimeter-wave base stations, targeting the US market.
In terms of 5G standards, Huawei ranks top with 18,671 contributed standards, nearly three times as many as Nokia who comes third.
In terms of R&D investment, the European Commission's figures show that Huawei has invested nearly 9.7 billion euros in network R&D, more than Nokia and Ericsson combined.
To ensure product delivery, Huawei launched the latest simplified site solution at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in February 2019. Its 5G blade active antenna unit (AAU) supports all radio access technologies (RATs) and frequency bands, and integrates active and passive antennas. This allows the solution to meet current site installation requirements. Huawei's microwave solution features one antenna and two outdoor units, providing over 20 Gbps of capacity and saving half on tower space and engineering costs.
In addition to technology solutions, quickly responding to market demands is also important to the operator customers of suppliers. Since 5G rollout in 2018 Q4, South Korean operators have deployed over 82,000 5G base stations by early April 2019. This means that if suppliers cannot meet operator needs for rapid, large-scale network deployment, operators' 5G commercialization plans will be delayed and their market competitiveness affected. South Korean media reported that Nokia was slow to deliver its 5G equipment, postponing 5G rollout in some South Korean cities.
The report also made a forecast regarding the global 5G wireless access market over the next five years. By 2023, Huawei is expected to lead other equipment providers, with a market share of 24.8%.
John Leung
John.leung@wmglobal.com